Out of Africa

These two cushions are very loosely based on a little handbag which I purchased at a small shopping centre in Nairobi, Kenya. The shop sold lots of painted handbags, belts and other leatherwork. Some of the designs were just glorious.

When I was studying multimedia, quite a few years ago now, I used these two tapestry cushions as inspiration for an animation in which I brought the characters (the angry man and his wife) to life. I remember I had great fun doing it. At the end of the animation it panned back to the cushions and the characters had both gone leaving an empty space.

I used a stitch called velvet stitch to create a curly pile for the hair, but I didn’t trim it, instead keeping it loopy.

And as is my usual habit, I used Appleton’s tapestry yarn.

Below is a collection of some more of my work.